Dreaming of Andromeda
by Ardvari
Summary: The trouble of missing somebody...


Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I didn't make money with this. I wish I had. :)

Dreaming of Andromeda

The college had provided Grissom with a small hotel room close to the campus. It was snowing when he arrived at the East Coast but there was a fireplace in his room and he built a fire and started getting his things ready for tomorrow's lecture. The dean had invited him for supper and he walked the short distance to the restaurant, enjoying the feel of the snow on his face.

When he got back to the hotel, he took a shower and settled down in front of the fire to read. That was the first time he thought about Sara since he'd left Las Vegas. He knew that she missed the snow and hadn't sat in front of an open fire since she'd gone to college. They were comfortable enough around each other to talk about these things. Grissom became acutely aware of the fact that she wasn't there with him and he started to miss her.

Sara sat in the empty house, in front of the ant farm, watching the ants scurry around. The house was eerily quiet and the evening sun slanted through the half open blinds. She didn't know what to do with herself and that bothered her. She used to be comfortable living alone and she told herself that she had to learn to be alone again. She wouldn't admit to herself that she was missing him. More than she had planned to. More than she ever thought she would. She was still mad at him for leaving the way he had left. The fact that he had told her at the last possible moment that he was going. She had thought, since she shared his bed, she deserved to know about situations like these a little earlier than that. Yeah, she was mad and upset and felt like she shouldn't be missing him, she shouldn't have to suffer from this. But she did. Four weeks without him. This was the first day and she already felt like a ghost, a mere shadow of herself, as if he'd taken all her life force with him. She dreaded going to bed because it would be cold. Sara let herself fall backwards, stretching out on the hardwood floor and closed her eyes. She missed him and hoped he would call.

The first week of lectures went by remarkably well. Grissom liked most of the students because they seemed genuinely interested in the subject (as interested as you could get in a mosquito) but every once in a while his eyes traveled to the left of the room, first row, second seat. Her spot. He'd called Sara twice but only spoken to her once, having to leave a message on her voicemail the second time, and she'd sounded distant, distracted. He was worried about her; he even started to think of himself as a bit of an asshole for leaving her the way he did. Not telling her what she would have to expect once he got back. Did he still want her around or did he not only make a break from his job but also a break from her? He shook the thoughts of her out of his mind, turning his full attention back to his students. They had invited him out for lunch, all of them, and he knew he couldn't get out of it. And so he went with them, fully aware that they would try to find out as much about him as they could. He made a mental note to tell them about her.

She went to work like Esther Greenwood's infamous trolley bus, bumped along by the events of the night, not really focusing on anything, feeling like a bell jar had descended over her the way it had descended on Esther. Of course Greg noticed that she was off. So did Nick. They didn't approach her, didn't really need to ask what this was about. After shift they talked her into having breakfast with them and she accepted but avoided any questions that involved her personal life. Not that she had one at the moment, anyways. She left to feed the insects, took a short shower and climbed into his bed, on his side. It smelled like him and she fell asleep dreaming of him. She hated herself for wanting him so much. When her phone rang in the middle of the night she grabbed it, held it to her ear and grunted.

"I miss you." he whispered.

Sara sighed into the phone. "So do I."

She sat up in bed, resting her head against the headboard. They listened to each other breathe for a while.

"I'm sorry Sara."

"I know. I'll be here." she said softly.

She almost forgave him then and wished him a good night. She slept soundly, feeling better. He missed her as much as she missed him. People generally didn't miss someone they didn't care about.

Grissom tried to not call her too much after that. This was his break and he needed time to sort things out. He needed to relax and it wasn't healthy the way he missed her and longed for her. He wrote her a couple of e- mails and didn't know what in hell possessed him to go to the airport and purchase a set of tickets, put them into an envelope and send them off to Las Vegas. He almost hoped she wouldn't accept his offer to come. Almost. The bigger part of him hoped she would come.

It was raining in Las Vegas when Sara made her way up the front steps, keys in one hand and the mail in the other. A couple of bills, some advertisements and a small, yellow, padded envelope that promised to hold something more than just the usual mail. She opened the door with her foot, pushed into the house and locked the door behind her. Sara hated the stale humidity that seemed to come with the rain. She opened the bills first, letting her OCD take over while sorting them into piles. One for the ones she had to pay straight away, one for the ones that could wait another week or so and one for the ones that could wait until Grissom came back.

Then she opened the small, yellow envelope, curious as to what she would find inside. Two tickets and a small slip of regular white stationary. _I need you. Gil_

He really could be quite cryptic at times. She didn't really know what to do so she threw the tickets on the breakfast bar and sat down in front of them, staring at them. As if on cue, her phone rang and she jumped slightly.

"Are you crazy?" she asked into the phone, unsure if she should smile or be upset.

"Is that a yes?" he asked back.

"I- I need to get time off Gris. Things are crazy around here, Keppler…" she started.

"Don't make excuses Sara. That seems to be my area of expertise." he said softly.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone and just as he wanted to inquire if she was still there, her voice reached his ear again.

"Come pick me up at the airport."

He nodded, and, realizing she couldn't see him, answered: "I will."

She had a couple of days yet to convince Catherine that she needed to leave, at this of all times. She took on the challenge the next day, sailing into Catherine's office and seating herself in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

"I… have to leave for five days." That had been fast and painless. Cutting straight to the chase without beating around the bush, the way Catherine liked it. The blonde woman stared at Sara for a moment, shaking her head.

"You can't be serious. You've been here; you know how crazy it is around here. We need you." Catherine blurted.

"I know and I'm sorry. Really Cath, I need to go. I wouldn't ask for it if it wasn't important, you know that." She wasn't going to beg, really, she wasn't.

"Well what's going on? Your grandma on fire? 'Cause she better be if I let you go." Catherine said, leaning forward slightly.

"I… don't have a grandmother." Sara stated matter-of-factly, scrunching up her forehead in thought.

"Then what the hell's going on? Ecklie's going to have my ass if I just… let you go without a good reason. I mean, other than your grandmother being on fire, what could possibly be a good enough reason?"

"Grissom." She blurted.

Catherine's mouth gaped open. She blinked a couple of times and swallowed, watching Sara shrink in her chair.

"Grissom. Grissom is the reason you want to leave? Why?" Catherine asked. She was getting curious.

"I- he- we…" Sara stammered, unsure of how she would get out of this, knowing that there was no graceful way. Catherine, being Catherine, had already figured it out.

"You and Grissom? Together? Since when?" Catherine could deal with Sara's cryptic message; she'd worked with Grissom long enough.

"A little less than two years." Sara stated.

Catherine shook her head in disbelief. "You serious? Right under our noses and nobody noticed. Does anyone know?"

"Nope, you're the first to know."

"Crazy. Um… I'll let you go. I don't know what's going on between you two, really, but whatever it is, I need you back by the end of next week. So you guys better get your butts in gear and figure things out. If anything major comes up be sure that I will personally order you back here." Catherine warned.

"That's fine, I really appreciate this. And… I'd also appreciate it if you… could keep this to yourself."

Catherine nodded and smiled.

Grissom was at the airport an hour before the plane was scheduled to arrive. He sat on the observation desk, drinking tea, watching plane after plane land, knowing that she was getting closer to him with each passing second. He felt like a teenager, being excited to see her. When the plane finally landed and rolled to the gate, he was at the bottom of the stairs she was bound to come down on, standing back a little, letting the other people move in front of him. A little girl stood in front of him, excitedly hopping up and down. Once she spotted the man behind her watching her, she spun around.

"I'm waiting for my dad. Who are you waiting for?" she asked curiously.

"I'm waiting for my… girlfriend." he said and smiled. 'Girlfriend' seemed very inappropriate, it he sounded like a fifteen year old. The girl seemed to be content with that answer and turned back around to face the stairs. So did Grissom, just in time to see Sara walking down the stairs. She was scanning the faces in the crowd until she saw him and her eyes locked on his. She smiled softly. He returned the smile and took a step forward, towards her. He felt like he had to meet her somewhere in the middle. Usually she was the one who went all the way while he waited.

She stepped in front of him, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hi." she said.

"Hi. I'm glad you came." he returned.

"I always do." she quipped and leaned forward, brushing her lips with his.

Grissom wrapped his arms around her and held her close for a while, breathing in her scent, burying his nose in her hair. She held on to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Let's go." He finally said, letting go of her and taking her hand. She didn't have any checked luggage, only a duffel bag that was stuffed full of things so they didn't need to wait for the baggage to come through and took a cab. He was holding her hand all the way to the hotel. His students had wondered about his good mood all morning. He was going to take her to class tomorrow and she would, just because she remembered as well as he did, sit in the first row, second seat. Her spot.

She was in love with the fireplace and after they took a shower together, went for a walk around town and ordered room service, they settled down in front of the open fire. She settled back on the soft rug and closed her eyes. It was peaceful up here and she'd almost forgotten how much she liked snow.

"Thanks for the tickets." she said, opening her eyes and looking up at him as he came to sit next to her.

"You're welcome. Listen- I'm not good with this whole thing. I realize I may have made a mistake by not telling you I was leaving until the last possible minute." he tried to explain himself.

She opened her eyes and smiled a crooked half-smile. "Gris, I know you're not good with these kinds of things. Neither am I. We're both not people persons. But I've practically been living with you for half a year and you didn't tell me that you were leaving until I came home and you were packing your suitcase, which sort of forced you to tell me. That just- won't work. I mean, you have got to let me know about these kinds of things. What did you think would happen if you told me?"

He started to fidget. He hated to be put on the spot but he deserved it (and he knew that) and she certainly wouldn't feel bad for him and let him off the hook. He had to make some sort of effort. Sara sat up and crawled closer to him until she was kneeling right in front of him.

"I- don't know. I thought maybe you would talk me out of it. Or if you didn't talk me out of it seeing you mope around would stop me from going."

"Gil, you should know that you can talk to me. I wouldn't have talked you out of anything. Heck, didn't you think I noticed how stressed out you were? I would have encouraged you to go. And when have I ever moped around? I don't mope!" she said exasperated.

"I'm sorry. I know. I can't tell you how sorry I am. I am bad with things like that, but I'll make it up to you." Grissom rattled off.

Sara stared into the flames for a moment, then turned to face him again. "You don't have to make anything up to me. All I want from you is that you talk to me. You said you trusted me. Just- don't shut me out. We're past that point. Heck, we are well past that point."

He smiled. "I promise I won't shut you out. However, I have a request, too."

She nodded, curious what he was going to request from her.

"Move in with me. Completely. All your clothes, all your books, all of… you. I want you there. I want you to come home to me." He looked at her expectantly, watching the light of the flames dancing across her face.

"I've been coming home to you for a long time, Gris. I've just been waiting for you to let me in." she whispered and leaned closer, until their noses and foreheads touched. He closed his eyes and cupped her cheek with one hand.

She managed to stick around for a whole week, occasionally phoning Catherine to find out if she was needed. They went for walks and talked and she came to his lectures, sitting in her usual spot. She told him that Cath knew about them but was sworn to secrecy. He told her that he loved her. He hadn't told her that before, explaining that he'd wanted it to mean something. After he said it for the first time he kept saying it whenever he thought it was appropriate. He didn't think it was appropriate often but that didn't matter to her. He was trying and she was dreaming of the future again. The night before she left and a week before he would come back to Vegas they made plans. Sara thought she could move most of her things to his place before he even got home. That way they could just relax, although she prepared him that there would be some minor (who was she kidding, major) interior decorating changes taking place once he got back. She liked curtains and he liked her and told her he'd be fine with whatever she did as long as she didn't paint the walls an abominable shade of purple. She didn't take offence to that, since he hadn't seemed to mind the color when they'd made love on her couch one morning after work while her air-conditioning had cut out.

They slept in each other's arms the night before she had to leave. Her legs were tangled with his, one of her arms draped around him while the other was holding his hand. He took her to the airport and she promised to pick him up when he got to Las Vegas. He kissed her long and hard before he let her go and she climbed on the plane slightly flushed and tipsy.

Sara gradually moved out of her apartment during the next week, went back to the lab refreshed, telling Catherine that she owed her one.

When Grissom got back she was completely moved in and attempted at cooking him supper, which ended in them ordering Chinese take-out. Before they fell asleep that night he told her again that he loved her and wanted to make the whole thing official. He didn't want her to be the secret lover no one would ever know about. He wanted her to be the official woman in his life and she decided that she was fine with that, as long as they thought through the whole thing and how to proceed again in the morning when they weren't so drunk on love. After all, they'd snuck by under everyone's nose for two years; a couple more days didn't matter. Sara draped the sheets over both of them and cuddled up close to him.

"Gris?"

"Hm?" He opened his eyes slowly while wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"I love you, too." she whispered. He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah I got the hint," he said, grinning, "took me long enough I guess."

She giggled, snuggled closer and took a deep breath. This felt better than she'd ever imagined.

-The End

"In five billion years the Andromeda galaxy will collide with our milky way, a new gigantic cosmis world will be born." -Enigma


End file.
